Jessica: My Style Authority – mystyleauthority.com is mobile-friendly website where beauty and fashion professionals are matched and connected to users seeking their services, or products

Jessica

My Style Authority

Jessica’s story

Hi, my name is Jessica Dew and I’m the founder and CEO of My Style Authority. I’m a 26 year old tenacious and determined woman from Washington D.C. Ever since I was young, I’ve always had a passion for fashion and inspiring people using style. Therefore, I attended F.I.T. in New York city, for wardrobe technician and costume design. Now, I work in the film/ tv/ theater industry in wardrobe. I’ve worked on major films and television shows on major networks, indie-films, web series, and I work with my local I.A.S.T.E. wardrobe union for ballets, concerts, plays, and Broadway musicals. In my quest to build confidence with style, I partner with local veteran non-profits to facilitate makeover transformations on women veterans. Finally, my dreams are to bring confidence to the world with style; using technology.

This loan is special because:

It helps a female beauty entrepreneur create connections in an otherwise fragmented industry.

Kiva staff

More about this loan

Business Description

Have you ever had an amazing event to go to and didn’t know where to find quality beauty or fashion professionals? Or are you a professional seeking to enhance your brand identity online, while networking with industry peers? For an industry with an expected gross over 400 billion by 2018, it’s badly fragmented. There is no easy was for users and professionals to connect and engage with each other. Therefore, the solution is My Style Authority, mystyleauthority.com is mobile-friendly website where beauty and fashion professionals are matched and connected to users seeking their services, or products. We provide a connecting platform where users and professionals can find and engage with each other. We feature professionals in the hair, makeup, fashion, spa, and specialty cosmetic service industries. For professionals we’re a platform for brand enhancement, advertising of services or products, and generating clients seamlessly all in one place, For users, we’re a one-stop-shop community where all of their beauty and fashion needs are handled; through online community engagement and appointment bookings. Based on my experience in the wardrobe industry, I saw a need that both productions and average beauty lovers were in need of a one-stop-shop to find quality professionals. They were tired of searching through endless search engines, just to find beauty and fashion professional. Furthermore, our biggest challenge has been attaining funding to reach our milestones. Our goals are first, to be go-to website where professionals can build clientele and advertise their services, and where users get matched with professionals, and second, to create a community of industry professionals and users that build a better world through beauty and fashion.

What is the purpose of this loan?

I will use this loan on marketing and outreach, that includes printed material, banners, local news airtime, social media sponsored ads which will cost $4,000. Also, I’ll spend $2,000 on research and development (R&D) to upgrade our technology for a more seamless user experience. I’ll join a local accelerator that will cost $1,200 and I’ll spend $2,800 on attending top beauty/fashion and technology trade shows/conferences and pitch competition. I’m projecting with an investment of $10,000, I can increase conversion rates by 30%, that’ll be $50,000 in revenue. Finally, this loan will greatly impact both my life and family life by giving My Style Authority a much needed financial jump start, that’ll allow me to spend more of my personal money on my family. Also, this will allow us to reach milestones quicker, without having growth stunted, due to my personal funds.